4.4.1 Initialization and allocation of network address

The client begins in INIT state and forms a DHCPDISCOVER message. The client SHOULD wait a random time between one and ten seconds to desynchronize the use of DHCP at startup. The client sets 'ciaddr' to 0x00000000. The client MAY request specific parameters by including the 'parameter request list' option. The client MAY suggest a network address and/or lease time by including the 'requested IP address' and 'IP address lease time' options. The client MUST include its hardware address in the 'chaddr' field, if necessary for delivery of DHCP reply messages. The client MAY include a different unique identifier in the 'client identifier' option, as discussed in section 4.2. If the client included a list of requested parameters in a DHCPDISCOVER message, it MUST include that list in all subsequent messages.

The client generates and records a random transaction identifier and inserts that identifier into the 'xid' field. The client records its own local time for later use in computing the lease expiration. The client then broadcasts the DHCPDISCOVER on the local hardware broadcast address to the 0xffffffff IP broadcast address and 'DHCP server' UDP port.

If the 'xid' of an arriving DHCPOFFER message does not match the 'xid' of the most recent DHCPDISCOVER message, the DHCPOFFER message must be silently discarded. Any arriving DHCPACK messages must be silently discarded.

The client collects DHCPOFFER messages over a period of time, selects one DHCPOFFER message from the (possibly many) incoming DHCPOFFER messages (e.g., the first DHCPOFFER message or the DHCPOFFER message from the previously used server) and extracts the server address from the 'server identifier' option in the DHCPOFFER message. The time over which the client collects messages and the mechanism used to select one DHCPOFFER are implementation dependent.

Field      DHCPDISCOVER          DHCPREQUEST           DHCPDECLINE,
           DHCPINFORM                                  DHCPRELEASE
-----      ------------          -----------           -----------
'op'       BOOTREQUEST           BOOTREQUEST           BOOTREQUEST
'htype'    (From "Assigned Numbers" RFC)
'hlen'     (Hardware address length in octets)
'hops'     0                     0                     0
'xid'      selected by client    'xid' from server     selected by
                                 DHCPOFFER message     client
'secs'     0 or seconds since    0 or seconds since    0
           DHCP process started  DHCP process started
'flags'    Set 'BROADCAST'       Set 'BROADCAST'       0
           flag if client        flag if client
           requires broadcast    requires broadcast
           reply                 reply
'ciaddr'   0 (DHCPDISCOVER)      0 or client's         0 (DHCPDECLINE)
           client's              network address       client's network
           network address       (BOUND/RENEW/REBIND)  address
           (DHCPINFORM)                                (DHCPRELEASE)
'yiaddr'   0                     0                     0
'siaddr'   0                     0                     0
'giaddr'   0                     0                     0
'chaddr'   client's hardware     client's hardware     client's hardware
           address               address               address
'sname'    options, if           options, if           (unused)
           indicated in          indicated in
           'sname/file'          'sname/file'
           option; otherwise     option; otherwise
           unused                unused
'file'     options, if           options, if           (unused)
           indicated in          indicated in
           'sname/file'          'sname/file'
           option; otherwise     option; otherwise
           unused                unused
'options'  options               options               (unused)

Option                     DHCPDISCOVER  DHCPREQUEST      DHCPDECLINE,
                           DHCPINFORM                     DHCPRELEASE
------                     ------------  -----------      -----------
Requested IP address       MAY           MUST (in         MUST
                           (DISCOVER)    SELECTING or     (DHCPDECLINE),
                           MUST NOT      INIT-REBOOT)     MUST NOT
                           (INFORM)      MUST NOT (in     (DHCPRELEASE)
                                         BOUND or
                                         RENEWING)
IP address lease time      MAY           MAY              MUST NOT
                           (DISCOVER)
                           MUST NOT
                           (INFORM)
Use 'file'/'sname' fields  MAY           MAY              MAY
DHCP message type          DHCPDISCOVER/ DHCPREQUEST      DHCPDECLINE/
                           DHCPINFORM                     DHCPRELEASE
Client identifier          MAY           MAY              MAY
Vendor class identifier    MAY           MAY              MUST NOT
Server identifier          MUST NOT      MUST (after      MUST
                                         SELECTING)
                                         MUST NOT (after
                                         INIT-REBOOT,
                                         BOUND, RENEWING
                                         or REBINDING)
Parameter request list     MAY           MAY              MUST NOT
Maximum message size       MAY           MAY              MUST NOT
Message                    SHOULD NOT    SHOULD NOT       SHOULD
Site-specific              MAY           MAY              MUST NOT
All others                 MAY           MAY              MUST NOT

             Table 5:  Fields and options used by DHCP clients

If the parameters are acceptable, the client records the address of the server that supplied the parameters from the 'server identifier' field and sends that address in the 'server identifier' field of a DHCPREQUEST broadcast message. Once the DHCPACK message from the server arrives, the client is initialized and moves to BOUND state. The DHCPREQUEST message contains the same 'xid' as the DHCPOFFER message. The client records the lease expiration time as the sum of the time at which the original request was sent and the duration of the lease from the DHCPACK message. The client SHOULD perform a check on the suggested address to ensure that the address is not already in use. For example, if the client is on a network that supports ARP, the client may issue an ARP request for the suggested request. When broadcasting an ARP request for the suggested address, the client must fill in its own hardware address as the sender's hardware address, and 0 as the sender's IP address, to avoid confusing ARP caches in other hosts on the same subnet. If the network address appears to be in use, the client MUST send a DHCPDECLINE message to the server. The client SHOULD broadcast an ARP reply to announce the client's new IP address and clear any outdated ARP cache entries in hosts on the client's subnet.